My Life Hacks: Coffee!!

Living with a Jura Coffee Machine

The greatest contributor to my day is coffee! To my credit, I only drink 2 to 3 cups a day which is a lot for most people I guess, but I have no intention of cutting down. I need to make up for the lost time since I only started drinking coffee in my 4th year of university. FOUR years of university without coffee sounds crazy, right?! I started with lattes. I loved lattes! Lattes, mochas, and machiattos – the more calories the better. Needless to say I started gaining weight, a lot of weight! Skinny, no-fat, it’s all a lie. I started drinking Americanos and lost 5 pounds in a week just switching from the simple switch from lattes. And that’s how I started appreciating coffee in its true form – no sugar, no sweetener, no milk or cream, just straight.

I have used espresso machines, Keurig machines, instant coffee, drip coffee, French press coffee, and brewed coffee. Espresso machine coffee and French press coffee are my favourites! I am EXTREMELY fortunate enough to own a Jura Impressa E8 Home Espresso Machine (THANK YOU to my in-laws).

Our Jura is definitely an upgrade from our Saeco, which we loved but had its issues. The Jura is so intuitive and does a lot of the guess work for you. It has a very simple cleaning process where you push a button, drop a tablet in, and then wait 20 minutes. It senses a water filter in the water tank. If there is not filter, it keeps track of when you should descale. Our Saeco did this too but the water in Calgary is exceptionally hard so we were descaling every month. The Jura allows you to indicate how hard or soft the water is. Upon first setup, you test the water with a testing strip included in the box. Steaming milk is also a breeze although the clean-up can be a bit tedious. You connect one end of the pipe to the machine and the second end gets put in the milk jug. You push the latte button and bam, latte! I can’t stand old, disgusting milk grossness so I appreciate the cleaning cycle for the pipe.

When it comes to advanced settings, you definitely need to keep the handbook nearby. There are a number of personalized adjustments you can make. The book is pretty good at directly and describing. Once you are all done, your coffee is ready at the touch of a button – coffee, espresso, risetto, etc. The bean hopper has an air-tight lid that keeps the beans fresh and extraneous kitchen stuff out. When I feel I need some decaf coffee in the afternoons, I use the ground coffee funnel and the machine intuitively switches to a ground coffee function. It’s FANTASTIC!

So, if you are considering an espresso machine, JURA is by far the best!